Previously, the contiguity of the Palestinian state was a major bargaining chip for Israel.

Now Mofaz is suggesting two-stage Palestinian statehood: a mini-state built on 60% of their territory first, followed by a 100% solution within a year. The Palestinians have rejected similar plans previously for a simple reason: they are certain (and rightly so) that once they get some kind of state, the world will cease to aid them against Israel, and we will drag out the negotiations forever. Also, they have a de facto 60% state now, and turning it into a de jure entity offers no benefit.

The march’s agenda seems innocuous, to raise awareness of Jerusalem as a city of three religions. Why then does it draw such support from ayatollahs and pro-Palestinian groups? Because its true purpose is to protest Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The activists want international control over Jerusalem, which will mean de facto Muslim control because they possess the most structures in the Old City.

This is essentially the UN’s 1947 solution, in which Israel was envisaged as three cantons with Jerusalem under international occupation. Olmert and Peres agreed to a similar solution when they offered the Palestinians ‘joint control’ over the Temple Mount. Control won’t really be shared because the Muslims would have three members in the five-member committee.

Though the similarity between Bibi’s and Tzipi’s positions is abominable, in reality they should indeed be expected to offer similar borders, their only difference from Olmert’s position being the Temple Mount.

The question is, why were the Palestinians angry about the leak? They refused the deal in 2007, so it only makes sense for them to say that they refused it again this time. One possible explanation is that by leaking the info, Netanyahu pulled the chair out from under Livni, who is being groomed by the Americans and Palestinians alike into a dove for the next elections.

And so we conduct peace talks for the eyes of Americans.

But if Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital undermines the Jewish state, why has every Israeli prime minister since Rabin not been charged with high treason for negotiating that exact solution, dividing the city?

Regardless of whether he has won UNSC approval, Abbas has won the UNGA to his side. This is something that Jewish state has never accomplished even once. In effect, Abbas has achieved a moral victory.

He did not harm his relations with the White House. Obama probably hates him just as he hated Netanyahu before, but that does not change the fact that Washington has no other party to support in the PA. To underscore that fact, the White House released $200 million in aid that it had threatened to withhold if Abbas applied to the UNGA for statehood recognition.

Nor will Israel be able to withhold tax transfers for long. Nor can it abandon Fatah militarily, unless we are willing to allow Hamas to take over the West Bank.

The Israeli arguments against the Palestinian bid were proved silly. Thus, to claim that mutually agreed-upon borders are a prerequisite for Palestine’s UN application is preposterous because the Jewish state itself came into being without a border agreement with its neighbors.

Arab diplomats revolted against Abbas for forcing their hand with his UNGA application. Indeed, they as well as their US and EU counterparts felt starkly irrelevant as Abbas dumped diplomatic intrigues in favor of appealing directly to people of the world. But they, too, will be forced back to the table by the US.

Perhaps Abbas miscalculated, imagining that he could push Obama into supporting his bid. Well, the US president is far more cynical than the Fatah leader had thought. Perhaps the peace process is now more dead than ever because the UNGA proved powerless against Jewish influence in Washington. But in the end Abbas was going down, anyway. And at least he is going down as a courageous leader who used his last chance to gain independence for his people—who happen to be our enemies.

Now the Israeli government is contemplating ‘goodwill gestures’ toward Fatah, such as ceding larger chunks of Judea and Samaria to Arab control.